Social Media Ban: The End Of Sex Products In Advertising?

Photo by Dainis Graveris on SexualAlpha

Mentioning sexual pleasure always had the power to make people blush with embarrassment.

Everyone has sex, but no one is allowed to talk about pleasure? The existence of vibrators demonstrates this pattern well in our society.

Since their arrival on the market in the early 1900s, advertising vibrators has always been a bumpy ride. The truth is, it was impossible for companies since the very beginning to advertise a product for sexual pleasure, so instead, ads were presenting vibrators as "massage items" used for their "therapeutic effects" - war against obscenity oblige.

In the whole world, obscenity laws were pretty full-on, preventing sales, advertisement, and distribution of "obscene" materials (yep, that includes basic sex ed too). Think of the 1873's Comstock Act in the USA, for instance.

If you feel relieved to live in the 21st century by reading these lines, hold on a second. While we live in more liberated times, we're far from being shielded from censorship to get back into our lives, as it still exists in many parts of the world.

Could it be that censorship never truly stopped to exist, but now shows up with a different face? The obscenity laws of yesterday might have found their equivalent in the present day.

The Ind-Electric ad, 1913

Why is there a revival of censorship on sex?

A significant move in the US law led to shifting the way we use the Internet as we know it. In April 2018, Trump passed the legislation FOSTA-SESTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act & Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act) into law.

What is it about?

This set of laws grants the state and authorities to attack directly platforms (for example, Craigslist, social media channels, etc.) for "allowing" sex trafficking ads on their websites.

The bills penalize any website that "promotes or facilitates prostitution" - pretty vague, isn't it? And since the law passed, there has been an increase in forbidding adult content throughout the Internet.

Although these regulations' initial intention was to prevent illegal sex trafficking online, the result is that there is much pressure inflicted on companies - especially smaller ones, as any published ad is now the full responsibility of a platform.

That was not the case before. Indeed, section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act was protecting companies from the unpredictability of their users: how to control what people constantly post?

Another thing to bear in mind is that only big companies can afford lawsuits; small businesses simply can't take the chance to be sued.

For that reason, most platforms became much stricter concerning what users can post or not, at the risk of "over-policing" their users. The beginning of more control over our interactions online? Is our freedom of speech in danger?

Social media ban: consequences for sex-related brands

In these past years, the guidelines set by social media channels have become more and more rigid, even Twitter which was well known for welcoming adult content.

We, at Green Condom Club, find many difficulties in advertising our products via paid ads. As a company that sells sex-related products, we are being watched to ensure we don't "propagate" sexual content. Yes, even we only sell condoms and lube - which are far from being the most controversial items you can find online!

The reality is that social media make it hard for sex-related brands to reach their audience, advertise their products and simply spread education about sexual health. 

How does that translate concretely? Profiles are being deleted, paying ads get rejected, adult content becomes less and less visible to users, and more.

Of course, potential clients can still find brands via organic word of mouth or shared content - but it represents a considerable cost for small companies.

In 2020, HubSpot surveyed more than 3000 marketers and found out that 68% of them stated that paid advertising was "very important" or "extremely important" to their business strategy. Most of them agree that it helps with growing brand awareness and significantly impacts direct sales.

That's what the ban of sex products on social media is all about, preventing any sexual content from reaching children, and protecting them from seeing what they shouldn't see. 

It also makes sense when we know that many young people get exposed involuntarily to online pornography: 66% of Internet users (out of 1500 respondents) aged 10 to 17 years, to be exact. That's what confirms this US national survey conducted in 2005. And that was 2005…

But does that justify that honest businesses should be muted to their audience? Surely not.

This social media ban concerns all types of businesses within the adult industry, and all those somehow related to sexuality. But of course, sex workers are the first ones to be in the crosshairs. An article published on Rolling Stones shares concerns about an explosion of suspended Twitter accounts owned by sex workers.

More than that, a few platforms had to close down: the first in line was Backpage, which became the (in)famous platform for buying and selling services of sex workers, including minors, forced prostitution and human trafficking. 

Following this polemic, other website owners took direct action to prevent this from happening to them: for example, the adult section of Craigslist was deleted.

The same goes for platforms such as Fetish Con, a fetish trade show whose Twitter account was suspended without notice, CityVibe, famous for hosting sex workers ads, was shut down, as well as Pounced.org. And to finish, even Google started to review and block pornographic content from users' Google Drive...

These new regulations have also been applied to dating apps, discussion forums, or any service that hosts user-generated content… It tells a lot about our relation to sex and our future ability to communicate about it.

What does this censorship show about the idea of "appropriate" in our society?

If we think about it, the concept of content moderation (the practice of screening user-generated content to understand if it's appropriate) is a tricky thing. How can one decide what users can see or not, judge what is right or not? 

Interestingly enough, the kind of content that tends to be moderated tells a lot about our society's discriminative patterns.

Restriction of conversations related to sex

The ban on sex products ultimately restricts the whole conversation about sex - whether you're talking about sexual health or posting violent porn.

How come? Because content moderation is not applied in a fair and even way. In fact, most of it is done by using algorithms, which can't make the difference between illegal or legal forms of sex content.

How to make the difference between a picture of an illegal sex worker wearing only underwear and the image of a model advertising a clothing brand?

Lack of recognition of prostitution

Many supported FOSTA-SESTA as a way to help to protect people affected by non-consensual prostitution.

But these restrictions influence the possibility for sex workers to actually work - consensual sex work, that is.

The bills don't make any difference between consensual and non-consensual sex work, showing a real lack of understanding of the profession.

In the past decades, sex work has been moving from dark streets to doing business online. Using the Internet to find clients allowed prostitutes to screen potential clients before meeting them, to choose a place beforehand rather than improvise, thus increasing their feeling of safety. Business-wise, it gave them autonomy and independence: instead of paying a hefty commission to a pimp, they were able to take care of themselves and increase their living standards.

More than that, sex workers have organized themselves into online communities, sharing lists of dangerous clients, for instance.

With the ban on platforms and the growing restrictions on social media, many prostitutes had to go back to the streets, being more subject to clients' violence and unpredictable behaviors.

Perpetuation of discrimination

Throughout history, there has always been a shared vision of what is appropriate and obscene. Everything that doesn't conform to the norm is often demonized.

In this sense, talking about appropriateness often perpetuates normative behaviors about gender roles and "normal" sexual practices.

Without surprise, restrictions have also been undertaken by Apple and Google app stores - but at the cost of some more than others.

In 2019, three dating apps were removed from the stores, Meet24, FastMeet, and Meet4U, because of their use by children as young as 12 years old.

To avoid the same fate, the gay dating app Scruff had to set a new guideline forbidding users to post pictures of kissing and hugging and pictures in swimsuits or underwear. In comparison, the heterosexually focused app Tinder didn't have to go through such changes.

Content moderation is also harder on ads targeting women compared to men. To be more precise, ads concerning erectile dysfunction are more widely accepted than products like lubricants for vaginal dryness. 

Men and women are also unequal when it comes to nipples: apparently, female nipples are far more inappropriate than males. Thus they're forbidden on Facebook and Instagram.

What does it say about the perception of women's sexuality? Simply that it's seen as less acceptable than men's one.

What are the current guidelines on social media channels?

Facing the same problems as other brands, PleazeMe researched all about what is acceptable, or not, to post on most social channels. 

What are the main obstacles that sex-related businesses meet? 

• Difficulty to advertise their website

• The need for a proper marketing plan fitting the confusing guidelines which prevent from talking about adult content

• Unequal treatment: what happens for one brand doesn't happen for another one. While your post may get accepted once, it might be refused the next day

• Paying ads get rejected over and over again

What are Facebook and Instagram guidelines when it comes to adult content? You'll see, it's pretty restrictive.

• Ads and sites advertising products aiming to improve sex life, such as sex toys and lubricant, are blocked

• Online dating services are not allowed

• Adults products (condoms, contraception, etc.) can be advertised if there is no mention of sexual pleasure

• Sexually suggestive content is forbidden: that includes nudity, excessive skin visibility, or any photo that refer to sexual activity, and even if it's not of a sexual nature

Similar guidelines are applied on Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, and Youtube - which don't allow advertising adults’ products, services, and sexually explicit content.

Twitter was once the most liberal channel, but not anymore: porn, nudity, dating focused on sexual encounters are now forbidden. Tumblr is the only one allowing ads featuring sexuality, as long as it's "tasteful and artistic".

Fun fact: Tumblr lost a third of its users after banning porn from the platform in December 2018.

How to make ads visible to potential customers then?

At Green Condom Club, we have several tricks to make sure you can see our ads!

• We target only people over 18 years old

• We don't feature "fresh" imagery, including the very feared female nipples

• We don't talk about sexual intercourse

• We focus on contraception as a medical device

• We don't mention sex nor pleasure (even if we would have a lot to say)

You have now the perfect recipe of "appropriateness" on social media... Until the next guidelines come in.

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Should we fear for our freedom of speech? Will the Internet ever be the same? These are questions we don't have an answer to yet. ♥

But one thing is sure. Even if the FOSTA-SESTA laws took place in the United States, we can see that their consequences crossed borders, touching the lives of many business owners and people involved in the sex industry worldwide.

The restrictions that followed the regulations are demonstrative of the eternal ruling over sex talk. We live in more liberated times, but it seems like our society is still stuck in old patterns. And social media are the ones that control and perpetuate normative visions of sexuality.

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